These comments are responses
to the statements listed below,
which were generated in regard to the Scott Stern Interview of 06-20-2014.

Can social progress enhance a
society’s ability to compete economically?

OVERVIEW

According to MIT's Scott Stern, coauthor of The
Social Progress Index 2014, the study's key finding is that
economic development is not sufficient to explain a country's social
progress outcomes and GDP per capita is an incomplete measure of a
country's overall performance. The Index shows, Stern says,
that on average, social progress outcomes are better as GDP per capita
increases. But that doesn't necessarily hold for many advanced
economies, where there can be big gaps between a country's ranking on
GDP per capita and its ranking on social progress. Another important
finding of the study is that there is no direct, tightly linked
correlation between publicly funded inputs, such as education spending
or health spending, and social progress outcomes.

Stern points out that the social dimensions
of people's lives and whether or not those are improving have not been
measured and understood nearly as well as the economic dimensions. The
Social Progress Index 2014, he explains,takes a rigorous look
beyond traditional measures of economic development and GDP in 132
countries in order to understand the relationship between economic
progress and social progress.

For the study, social progress is defined as
the capacity of a society (1) to meet the basic human needs of its
citizens, (2) to establish the building blocks that allow citizens to
enhance and sustain the quality of their lives, and (3) to create the
conditions for all individuals to reach their full potential. The
authors divide these three broad dimensions into components that could
be systematically calculated and compared across countries.

New Zealand, Switzerland and Iceland ranked
first, second and third in their total scores on the social progress
measures. The United States ranked 16th, higher than France
(20th), but lower than Germany (12th), the
United Kingdom (13th), Japan (14th) and Ireland
(15th). Brazil ranked 46th, Russia 80th and
China 90th. Chad (132nd) came in at the bottom
of the rankings.

Average response ratings shown below
are simply the mean of all readers’ zero-to-ten responses to the ideas
proposed and should not be considered an accurate reflection of a
scientifically structured poll.

To assist the Civic Caucus in planning
upcoming interviews, readers rated these statements about the topic on
a scale of 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (neutral) to 10 (strongly
agree):

(7.6 average response)
It would be helpful to schedule
additional interviews on this topic.

Readers rated the following points discussed
during the meeting on a scale of 0 (strongly disagree) to 5 (neutral)
to 10 (strongly agree):

3. Economic data alone is insufficient.

(8.7 average
response) Measuring economic
development alone is an incomplete way to compare nations’ relative
success, because the comparison fails to reflect social progress.

4. Social progress index gives key insight.

(7.9 average
response) A newly developed social
progress index that includes measurements of basic human needs,
foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity, gives a better picture of
overall prosperity.

5. Effect of spending on social progress.

(6.2 average
response) It is surprising that
the developers of the index find no direct correlation between more
government spending and better social progress.

6. US ranking unexpected.

(3.6 average response)
It is surprising that the index
places the United States no higher than 16th on overall social
progress.

7. Some states might rank higher.

(8.2 average
response) If state-by-state or
regional data for the United States were included, some parts of the
nation would likely rank above some smaller nations that now rank
higher than the entire US.

Response Distribution:

Strongly disagree

Moderately disagree

Neutral

Moderately agree

Strongly agree

Total Responses

1. Topic is of value.

0%

0%

15%

23%

62%

13

2. Further study warranted.

0%

8%

15%

46%

31%

13

3. Economic data alone is insufficient.

0%

0%

15%

23%

62%

13

4. Social progress index gives key
insight.

0%

8%

23%

15%

54%

13

5. Effect of spending on social
progress.

8%

15%

23%

31%

23%

13

6. US ranking unexpected.

23%

31%

31%

8%

8%

13

7. Some states might rank higher.

0%

0%

15%

46%

38%

13

Individual Responses:

Bruce Lundeen (10) (7.5) (7.5) (5) (10) (5)
(10)

Dave Broden (10) (7.5) (10) (7.5) (5) (5)
(5)

1. Topic is of value. A significant look
at the connection and commonality of economic and social factors and
interaction in a changing world — applies to local state issues and
approaches as well.

2. Further study warranted. We need to
consider both economic and social factors in all discussion and this
speaker helped us to establish an approach to this need and
consideration.

3. Economic data alone is insufficient.
Concur strongly. The bottom line is opportunity for all and requires
not only economic progress but also social factors-- education,
environment, housing, etc.

4. Social progress index gives key insight.
A metric or measure is always valid provided the quality of the metric
and data used is complete, well thought out and accurate and can be
tracked to common factors in multiple locations.

5. Effect of spending on social progress.
The fact that they found no link between funding and social
progress is a great result. Far too often the only thought is to solve
the issue by funding more. With a bit of thought most problems can be
moved forward without more funding -- just define a better way to
approach the issue and then decide if more or less money is needed.

6. US ranking unexpected. This gets to
the point of what is included in the social progress metrics- the
factors, the database, etc.

7. Some states might rank higher. See
answer to item 6 above.

Dane Smith (10) (10) (10) (10) (5) (0) (10)

Phil Kinnunen (7.5) (5) (7.5) (2.5) (10) (0)
(7.5)

5. Effect of spending on social progress.
There should not have been any surprise here, more government
involvement in people's lives only leads to higher taxes and more
people whose job it is to try figure out how to keep the government
growing. The government is for the people, not the people for the
government.

6. US ranking unexpected. This also
should not have been a surprise, in the last thirty years or so, in
the effort to become "Global", "One world", the United States has
compromised its edge by trying to "level the playing field". Life is
not fair. Completion makes people stronger. The more people have to
work for what they get, and the rewards for that work are great, the
more and harder they will work. The world will always have poor people
and those that need help, but through proper education, both through
colleges, vocational education and competition, the percentage of
those needing help will be reduced.

Michael Martens (10) (10) (7.5) (5) (5)
(2.5) (7.5)

2. Further study warranted. Only Canada
and Australia in the 1st tier are large countries. The other 8 are
small countries with homogeneous populations. None of the 10 countries
has large immigrant populations. This suggests there is a bias in the
methodology against large countries, countries with large poor
immigrants populations and countries that are ethnically, racially
[and] religiously diverse.

4. Social progress index gives key insight.
Given how vague some of the top-level areas are like, [e.g.], 2c
Health & wellness 2d Ecosystem sustainability 3c Tolerance &
inclusion, etc., I wonder how the authors were able to determine
objective criteria for measuring these variables.

5. Effect of spending on social progress.
This is surprising only if one assumes that government spending is
spent evenly across all residents of the country. For example on most
measures of educational spending and achievement, MN scores high or
very high compared to other states, but Minneapolis & St. Paul have
the largest achievement gap between blacks & whites of any major city
in the US.

6. US ranking unexpected. This is not
surprising to me. It is surprising the US is that high .

Don Anderson (5) (5) (10) (10) (10) (10)
(7.5)

1. Topic is of value. I am glad that social
progress is finally recognized as an impact on economic prosperity.

Jim Olson (10) (7.5) (5) (10) (7.5) (7.5)
(10)

Kevin Edberg (10) (10) (10) (7.5) (2.5)
(2.5) (10)

1. Topic is of value. I appreciate the
effort to take on non-economic aspects of development.

2. Further study warranted. This brings
additional perspective to the larger question of how we can lead
better lives, and give to future generations even greater
opportunities for meaningful lives for more and more people.

5. Effect of spending on social progress.
It perhaps shows the complex nature of human capital, and the things
that increase human capital. As I have commented before, "tolerance"
as a social attribute builds and attracts human capital in interesting
ways.

6. US ranking unexpected. Nope, no
surprise there. Part of the American mythology is that we are the
greatest. More like hubris. We have much to appreciate, much to be
grateful for, and even more to still learn.

7. Some states might rank higher. Yes.

Scott Halstead (10) (7.5) (10) (10) (2.5)
(5) (10)

2. Further study warranted. Should this
be incorporated into the U. S. Census?

7. Some states might rank higher.
Perhaps state rankings should play a role in government support to
States and how funds may be utilized.

Charles Denny (10) (10) (10) (10) (7.5) (0)
(7.5)

6. US ranking unexpected. International
polls have constantly found the United States lacking in social
progress.

Tom Spitznagle (5) (3) (5) (5) (0) (3) (7)

Vici Oshiro (na) (na) (na) (na) (na) (na) (na)

Did not read the whole thing, but this is
one of several suggested changes in how we measure ourselves and seems
quite complete and valuable. This is particularly important now
because growth is becoming more of a problem than a solution although
you'd not hear that from some of my favorite talking heads, e.g.,
Charlie Rose.

GDP = Grossly Distorted Picture.

Tom Abeles (na) (na) (na) (na) (na) (na) (na)

The SPI has been of interest to many since
it is the first real quantitative index to go beyond the limited GDP.
Several states in the US have adopted these metrics. And there have
been conferences in the US while I have been in Rwanda.

I am working with some folks to carry out a
Delphi analysis and would like to get the funding to have Joel Barker
do an implications wheel for this.

The issue is that main stream neo-classical
economists write this off along with the "happiness index" and the
heterodox economists are struggling with legitimacy and have enough
problems on their plate.

The Civic Caucusis a non-partisan,
tax-exempt educational organization. The Interview Group
includes persons of varying political persuasions,
reflecting years of leadership in politics and
business. Click here to see a short personal background of each.